During our first full week of school last week we took advantage of our new accessibility to students due to their having Chromebooks by surveying them on a host of important issues for our staff. I wanted to take a moment to share some of what came back to us and to dispel one really big misconception of students.
88% of our students (wrongly) believe that they can never change their lunch table once it is established! This is NOT true!
Some background information; we DO want students to pick a table and stay at that table and here's why. We do NOT want students to have to race to lunch every day, which would be the case if our seating were a free for all. This would have some students who may be taking a test, or simply slow at their locker NEVER being able to count on a reliable seat. We DO understand that students sometimes get into conflict and that they sometimes wish to change tables. So, how do we balance these two competing pressures?
We allow students to make changes by utilizing the counselors or noon-aide monitors. It goes something like this...
Johnny wants to change tables but the table he would like to sit at is full. We do NOT allow Johnny to displace one of the students at that new table (if there is an open seat then Johnny can simply move to that open seat but "open" in this context means permanently open and not simply open 'today' because some other student is absent). We DO allow Johnny to move to a different table and move with a few of his friends provided his friends are okay with moving. How does Johnny talk to the friends he'd like to move with him? If he's uncomfortable or just awkward in trying to have this conversation either his counselor (Mr. Farnan, Mr. Lenhardt, Ms. Marcucci, or Ms. Young) or one of our noon-aide monitors can assist and facilitate for him. They won't do the talking for him but they'll help find a time and safe space to approach his friends to have the conversation. By the way, our counselors will also do this for students new to Bethlehem to help them feel more comfortable acclimating to the district.
More Survey Results
- 71% of Middle School students state they are comfortable seeking out a teacher to meet with them one on one if they need help. That's good, but not great! By the time our students leave us in preparation for 9th grade we want all of our students to be confident in realizing that a behavior of strong students is help-seeking and self-advocacy.
- Social Media and MS students
- 66% of our students have an Instagram account
- 60% have Snapchat
- 16% have Facebook
- 16% have Twitter
- We remind all parents that it is perfectly acceptable to REQUIRE your children to FRIEND you
- Mr. Klugman's three kids are 19, 17 and 14 and I follow all of their social media!
- 25-40% of our students acknowledge that they don't have a lot of extracurricular, service-oriented, or community based participation.
- A goal for all of our MS students is for them to have a healthy peer network.
- A reminder to all of our parents that our October 16th (that's a date change from October 2nd on our printed school calendar) PTO Open Meeting invites all students and parents to come and hear reps from our student clubs and athletic teams talk about these opportunities - we hope you can join us!
- 7:00 PM in our Middle School Library!
End of Week Notes
From our PTO - Thanks to everyone for supporting our PTO
~ You have until 10/6 to join & be included in the
directory; easiest way is to go to our PTO website, bcmspto.org and do online.
You can also use our online store to pay for the agenda book if you haven’t already done
so.
~Volunteer Opportunities:
We need you:
10/3 BCMS School pictures
--one volunteer 8:15am-11:30am & one 11:30am-2:45pm
10/3 BCMS School
Pictures—one volunteer 8:15am-11:30am & one 11:30am-2:45pm
please use this link
to volunteer: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0444aaac2da1f49-picture
~Please remember to bring in your Box Tops (receptacle box in
lobby)
FASS (Friday After School Support)
Beginning on October 13, we will once again provide students Friday After School Support (FASS), which is a quiet work time for students where they can receive tutoring support provided by our building administration in most subjects. We also work with students on their organization.
Students can opt into this for any Friday that it runs (through June) but there is not transportation provided. Some students may also be recommended for this by their team of teachers, by their counselors, or by building administration if they are falling behind or have work to make up after extended absence.
We meet from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM but students are allowed to leave early if they have transportation.
Reminders:
- Tuesday, Sept 26 is our Hudson & Patroon Open House (most or our Mohawk Teachers will not be present)
- Tuesday, October 2 is our Mohawk Open House (most of our Hudson and Patroon Teachers will not be present)
- Friday, October 6 is our annual Go Home Early Drill (look for a direct message with more information about the timing of our dismissal coming through parents' Aspen account)
- DATE CHANGE - Open PTO Meeting for all BCMS Families is moved to October 16th! (7:00 PM in our Library Media Center)
Have a Great Weekend!
